University College Cork

University College Cork Review

The Doric, porticoed gates of UCC stand about 2 km (1 mi) from the center of the city. The college, which has a student body of roughly 10,000, is a constituent of the National University of Ireland. The main quadrangle is a fine example of 19th-century university architecture in the Tudor-Gothic style, reminiscent of many Oxford and Cambridge colleges. Several ancient ogham stones are on display in the North Quadrangle (near the visitor center), and the renovated Crawford Observatory's 1860 telescope can be visited. The Honan Collegiate Chapel, east of the quadrangle, was built in 1916 and modeled on the 12th-century, Hiberno-Romanesque style, best exemplified by the remains of Cormac's Chapel at Cashel. The UCC chapel's stained-glass windows, as well as its collection of art and crafts, altar furnishings, and textiles in the Celtic Revival style, are noteworthy. Three large, modern buildings have been successfully integrated with the old, including the Boole Library, named for mathematician George Boole (1815-64), who was a professor at the college. Both indoors and out the campus is enhanced by works of contemporary Irish art. The Lewis Glucksman Gallery opened in late 2004, in a striking new building in a wooded gully beside the college's entrance gates. Besides displaying works from the college's outstanding collection, it hosts cutting-edge contemporary art exhibitions.